Traits card game

ABSTRACT

This Traits card game allows each player to select cards identifying personality traits that he or she finds desirable or favorable. The players then use a bidding structure to bid on each chosen trait&#39;s relative importance to each player. The players next utilize their memorization skills to identify who won the bid for each trait, and the value of the highest bid. The player who can identify by memory the most bids wins the game. Thus, the game allows players to get to know each other by finding out what traits each player finds desirable, but also utilizes competitive bidding and the memorization and recall skills of each player.

There are no related patent applications.

This application did not receive federal research and developmentfunding.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to a playing card game designedfor two to eight players and includes at least two decks of cards; onedeck corresponds to and includes cards that display personality traits;whilst, the other deck displays values to be placed by the players onthe personality traits. More particularly, the invention relates to acard game that allows players to identify and competitively bid onpersonality traits that are important to them, while also utilizing eachplayer's memorization skills to recall who bid the highest value foreach trait and a value of the winning bid.

There are games that utilize a system of bidding. For example, gameslike setback and poker require a player to evaluate their “hand” ofcards and to place bets based on the cards shown in their hand whileconsidering the odds of others in having better hands. The type ofbidding in these games occurs after a dealer deals the cards to eachplayer.

There are no other known card games that identify distinct personalitytraits, allow players to identify those traits which are most importantto each player, and allow players to get to better know and becomefamiliar with each other. The present invention incorporates theaforementioned game elements and a unique series of steps to create anenjoyable game experience which allows players to learn more about oneanother, including value systems and interests. Words written onindividual cards may evoke strong likes or dislikes of particularcharacteristics. These words may then be discussed in more depth duringthe game. It should be noted that the competition and winning of thepresent game is simply a device that the inventor uses to bring theplayers together. An intention of the inventor is for the players todevelop their abilities to relate to one another through thelight-hearted discussion of positive personality traits. Moreover, thepresent game actually teaches the players about themselves by causingthem to realize the personality traits that are important to themselves.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In the preferred embodiment, the invention, also known as the TRAITScard game, is a new card game which utilizes cards marked with 52designated personality traits accompanied by each trait's descriptionand a deck of value cards that are standard poker sized playing cards.The value cards may comprise poker cards and utilize their associatedvalues for playing the Traits game. Typically, both the trait cards andthe value cards are 2 1/2″×3 1/2″ in size.

An object of the game is for each player to identify those traits inwhich they have a strongly positive emotional connection, bid on arelative importance of each trait, and then remember who bid the higheston each trait and a value of the winning bid. The bidding processincludes placing a value on each trait card in accord with theimportance that the bidding player places upon the particular trait. Theplayer not only recognizes what personality trait he/she finds importantbut also a respective importance value that each player places on thevarious traits. The player that guesses the closest to the correctinformation wins the trait, and the player who ends the game with themost traits wins the game. Throughout the game, discussions may ensue asto the reasons as to why players place a particular value on aparticular trait.

Optimal play occurs with four players, though it can be modified to playwith less or more. The following description accounts for four players.

Two decks of fifty-two trait cards each are provided, but the playersmay decide to use only one of the decks instead of selecting theirfavorite 52 traits from the 104 traits provided.

Before the game begins, the players may decide to select their favoritetraits from the trait cards that are provided. One method of doing thisis to take the 2 decks or 104 trait cards and draw eight face-up infront of the other players. Each player then selects one card thatrepresents his or her favorite trait. The four chosen trait cards areplaced in a stack and reserved while the four remaining cards arediscarded. The player then deals another set of eight cards, and theplayers repeat the process until the entire deck of trait cards has beenpresented. The chosen trait deck should consist of 52 cards.

If during the selection of the first four trait cards a player picks hisor her chosen trait but also sees another remaining trait that is stillappealing, that player may pick the desired card and reserve it for thenext set of eight choices. The player may substitute use of the reservedcard in place of any of the other cards he or she chooses. An object ofthis part of the game process is to make sure the players do not discarda trait that they might have later selected.

A deck of 52 standard playing cards, such as poker cards, is thendivided among the players so that each player receives a full suit. Forexample, Player 1 receives the full suit of hearts, Player 2 receivesthe full suit of spades, Player 3 receives the full suit of diamonds,and Player 4 receives the full suit of clubs.

The deck of chosen trait cards is then shuffled. The game begins wheneach player takes a turn bidding on the shown trait using their suit ofstandard playing cards. The preferred method of keeping track of playerturns is to pass the trait deck to the player who has the turn of makingthe first bid for a trait card. The players then bid on the card basedon the traits respective importance to each player. The more desired thetrait, the higher the bid. The playing cards are ranked with the acebeing the highest possible bid and a 2 being the lowest. The biddingcontinues until no one is willing or able to bid higher, or one of theplayers bids an ace.

During the bidding process, the first person making a bid for a traitcard must bid on the card and cannot pass the bid without first bidding.This provides the bidder with an advantage by allowing him or her to bethe first person to bid the highest card in his/her hand. However, thisalso saddles the bidder with a disadvantage by forcing him or her tomake a bid on an unwanted card.

The person with the highest bid places their winning bid card underneaththe trait card. The next player in turn bids on the next exposed traitcard and begins the process of bidding until the highest bid is made,and the pair of cards is placed on the stack of card sets. This processcontinues until all 52 trait cards have been presented and bid upon. Anew deck of mixed cards that comprises trait cards paired with theirrespective highest bid playing cards is formed by this process. Thisdeck equals 104 cards.

A player then cuts the deck of paired cards so that the trait card andits corresponding bid card are still paired. The deck may be cut thisway several times. The trait card must always remain above and coveringthe bid card.

Each player then takes a turn looking at the trait card and guessingfrom memory who made the winning bid, and the associated value of thewinning bid for that card. The method of keeping track of player turnsis the same as previously described. The deck of paired cards is passedto the player who has the turn of making the first guess on a winningbid. Once all players have guessed, the bid card is exposed and the suitand value of the bid card identifies both who won the bid and whatamount won the bid. The player who correctly guesses the identity of thehighest bidder, and guesses closest to the value of the winning bid,wins the trait card. If nobody guesses the correct value of the winningbid, and two or more players correctly identify the identity of thewinning bidder, then the player correctly identifying the person thatbid the highest value on a trait wins the trait card over a player whodid not guess the correct bidder but guessed a correct bid. If twoplayers correctly identify the winning bidder and guess an equally closebid, with one bid being higher than the correct bid and one bid beinglower than the correct bid, the player having the lower bid wins thetrait card. If none of the players have correctly identified whosuccessfully bid on the card, then nobody wins the trait card. Traitcards won may be denoted as points for determining a score in the game.

The player who wins the most trait cards after all 52 trait card pairshave been exposed wins the game. It is important to continue takingturns so that every player gets a chance to be first in guessing who wasthe highest bidder and what the winning bid was.

The game may be modified to accommodate between two to eight players.This modification may include providing an additional set of playingcards having a different motif and including more trait cards forbidding. Alternatively, the number of trait cards may be reduced and theplayers choose from a smaller number of trait cards during the biddingprocess.

If there are only two players, the game begins as described above, buteach player selects two trait cards from the eight trait cards dealt.After 52 trait cards have been selected from those cards presented, theplayers segregate the deck of regular playing cards into two piles, oneof red suited cards and one of black suited cards. One player then takesthe red suit of cards, and the other takes the black suit of cards. Theplayers then use their respective suits to bid on the trait cards aspreviously described, and the game progresses in the same manner asstated above. It is possible for two players to bid on 24 trait cards ifthey decide to play with only two suits of playing cards.

If there are three players, the game begins as described above, but eachplayer selects one trait card from the eight trait cards dealt. Havingpresented all the trait cards and each player selecting one from eachset of eight cards dealt, results in 39 cards being selected. After the39 trait cards have been selected from those cards presented, theplayers then each select a suit of cards from a deck of standard playingcards having a total number of suits that equals the same number ofplayers. The remaining suit is discarded. The players then use theirrespective suits to bid on trait cards as previously described, and thegame progresses in the same manner as stated above.

If there are five to eight players, 2 decks of trait cards or 104 traitscan be used. Each player selects one trait card from each set ofthirteen trait cards dealt. After all the trait cards are presented avariable number of trait cards are selected. For five players, therewill be 65 trait cards chosen. For six players, there will be 78 traitcards chosen. For seven players, there will be 91 trait cards chosen.For eight players all 104 trait cards are used.

For a group of five to eight players, a second deck of regular playingcards must be used. The second deck should have a different motif orbacking so as to distinguish a total of eight visually different suits.Each player then selects one full suit of playing cards, and uses thissuit to bid on the trait cards as previously described, and the gameprogresses in the same manner as stated above.

It becomes important that as more people play, the player displaying thetrait cards or starting the bidding announce the trait cards beingplayed. This verbal announcement makes the trait cards known to theplayers who may have difficulty reading the traits because of seatingarrangements.

Players do not have to start the game by using all 104 trait cards. Theplayers may decide to discard trait cards they feel would not ever beselected as favorite traits. For example, four players might decide toplay with their favorite 78 trait cards and display six trait cards at atime instead of eight.

The above and further objects, details and advantages of the inventionwill become apparent from the following detailed description, when readin conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a simplified flowchart of the process for playing the game.

FIG. 2 is a simplified flowchart of the bidding process for use inplaying the Traits game.

FIG. 3 is a simplified flowchart of the points awarding process for usein playing the Traits game.

FIGS. 4A-C shows an embodiment for the preferred method of the biddingprocess when playing the game with four players.

FIGS. 5A and 5B shows a preferred method of the bidding process whenplaying the game with two players

FIGS. 6A and 6B shows a preferred method of the bidding process whenplaying the game with three players

FIG. 7A and 7B shows for the preferred method of the bidding processwhen playing the game with five to eight players.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

While the invention has been described with respect to preferredembodiments, it is intended that all matter contained in the abovedescription or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpretedas illustrative and not in limiting sense. From the above disclosure ofthe general principles of the present invention and the precedingdetailed description, those skilled in the art will readily comprehendthe various modifications to which the present invention is susceptible.Therefore, the scope of the invention should be limited only by thefollowing claims and equivalents thereof.

FIG. 1 shows the process for playing the game. The process includesproviding 104 trait cards and determining which trait cards will be usedin playing the game. A smaller deck may be built with these trait cards.A suit in a deck of standard playing cards is given to each player.These standard playing cards are used to bid on trait cards to build amixed deck of cards. These cards are shuffled and when a particulartrait card is displayed, players guess who won the trait card during thebidding process and a denomination on the winning bid.

Two decks of trait cards are provided. Each deck of cards includes 52cards that have a particular trait displayed on one side thereof. A deckof 52 trait cards is built or created using these two decks of cards.One method of building such a deck is to use the 2 decks or 104 traitcards and draw eight face-up in front of the other players. Each playerthen selects one card that represents his or her favorite trait. Thefour chosen trait cards are placed in a pile to be used in playing thegame. The four remaining cards are discarded. The player then dealsanother set of eight cards, and the players repeat the process until theentire deck of trait cards has been presented. The chosen trait deckshould consist of 52 cards.

If during the selection of the first four trait cards a player picks hisor her chosen trait but also sees another remaining trait that is stillappealing, that player may pick the desired card and reserve it for thenext set of eight choices. The player may substitute use of the reservedcard in place of any of the other cards he or she chooses.

A deck of 52 standard playing cards, such as poker cards sold under thebrand names of Bicycle® and Player®, is then divided among the playersso that each player receives a full suit, each suit includingdenominations of 2 through an ace. For example, Player 1 receives thefull suit of hearts, Player 2 receives the full suit of spades, Player 3receives the full suit of diamonds, and Player 4 receives the full suitof clubs. These cards are used to bid on trait cards in accord with FIG.2. A trait card is exposed and the players take turns bidding on thetrait card according to their personal tastes. The winning bid card andits appropriate trait card are paired together to create the mixed deck.This continues until all trait cards are exposed and bid upon. The mixeddeck is then shuffled in a manner that maintains the integrity of thedeck by preventing the bid card and its associated trait from becomingseparated.

During the bidding process, the preferred method of keeping track of aparticular player's turn is to pass the trait deck to the player who hasthe turn of making the first bid for a trait card. The players then bidon the trait card based on the traits respective importance to eachplayer. The more desired the trait, the higher the bid. The playingcards are ranked with the ace being the highest possible bid and a 2being the lowest. The bidding continues until no one is willing or ableto bid higher, or one of the players bids an ace.

During the bidding process, the first person making a bid for a traitcard must bid on the card and cannot pass the bid without first bidding.This provides the bidder with an advantage by allowing him or her to bethe first person to bid the highest card in his/her hand. However, thisalso saddles the bidder with a disadvantage by forcing him or her tomake a bid on an unwanted card.

The person with the highest bid places their winning bid card underneaththe trait card. The next player in turn bids on the next exposed traitcard and begins the process of bidding until the highest bid is made,and the pair of cards is placed on the stack of card sets. This processcontinues until all 52 trait cards have been presented and bid upon. Anew deck of mixed cards that comprises trait cards paired with theirrespective highest bid playing cards is formed by this process. Thisdeck equals 104 cards.

A player then cuts the deck of paired cards so that the trait card andits corresponding bid card are still paired. The deck may be cut thisway several times. The trait card must always remain above and coveringthe bid card.

Each player then takes a turn looking at the trait card and guessingfrom memory who made the winning bid, and the associated value of thewinning bid for that card. The method of keeping track of player turnsis the same as previously described. The deck of paired cards is passedto the player who has the turn of making the first guess on a winningbid. Once all players have guessed, the bid card is exposed and the suitand value of the bid card identifies both who won the bid and whatamount won the bid. Points are awarded in accord with FIG. 3. The playerwho correctly guesses the identity of the highest bidder, and guessesclosest to the value of the winning bid, wins the trait card. If nobodyguesses the correct value of the winning bid, and two or more playerscorrectly identify the identity of the winning bidder, then the playercorrectly identifying the person that bid the highest value on a traitwithout going over the winning bid value wins the trait card. Moreover,a player who did not guess the correct bidder but guessed a correct bidloses to a player who correctly identifies the winning bidder. If twoplayers correctly identify the winning bidder and guess an equally closebid, with one bid being higher than the correct bid and one bid beinglower than the correct bid, the player having the lower bid wins thetrait card. If none of the players have correctly identified whosuccessfully bid on the card, then nobody wins the trait card. Traitcards won may be denoted as points for determining a score in the game.

The player who correctly is awarded points for the most trait cardsafter all 52 trait card pairs have been exposed wins the game. It isimportant to continue taking turns so that every player gets a chance tobe first in guessing who was the highest bidder and what the winning bidwas.

Now turning to FIGS. 4A through 4C which represent a deck of regularplaying cards that has been divided among the players so that eachplayer receives a full suit. For example, Player 1 receives the fullsuit of hearts 20, Player 2 receives the full suit of spades 21, Player3 receives the full suit of clubs 22 and Player 4 receives the full suitof diamonds 23. A card 10A is dealt face up from the deck of trait cards10 that has been shuffled. The trait cards 10 have been mutually chosenas mentioned previously. Each player takes a turn bidding on the showntrait card 10A using their suit of standard playing cards, as shown inFIG, 4B. The respective bid cards are represented by 20A, 21A, 22A, 23A.The bid is based on the traits respective importance to each player. Themore desired the trait, the higher the bid. The playing cards are rankedwith the ace being the highest possible bid and a 2 being the lowest.The bidding continues until no one is willing or able to bid higher, orone of the players bids an ace.

As shown in FIG. 4C, Player 1 has won the bid with a ten of hearts 20A.Next, the ten of hearts 20A is paired with the trait card 10A to begincreating a new deck of mixed cards that comprises trait cards pairedwith their respective highest bid playing cards. This process continuesuntil all 52 trait cards have been presented and bid upon to create amixed deck that preferably equals 104 cards for four players.

A player then cuts the deck of paired cards that comprise the mixed deckso that the trait card and its corresponding bid card are still paired.The deck may be cut this way several times. The trait card must alwaysremain above and covering the bid card.

Each player then takes a turn looking at the trait card and guessingfrom memory who made the winning bid, and the associated value of thewinning bid for that card. Once all players have guessed, the bid cardis exposed and the suit and value of the bid card identifies both whowon the bid and what amount won the bid. The player who correctlyguesses the identity of the highest bidder, and guesses closest to thevalue of the winning bid, wins the trait card. If nobody guesses thecorrect value of the winning bid, and two or more players correctlyidentify the identity of the winning bidder, then the player correctlyidentifying the person that bid the highest value on a trait wins thetrait card over a player who did not guess the correct bidder butguessed a correct bid. If two players correctly identify the winningbidder and guess an equally close bid, with one bid being higher thanthe correct bid and one bid being lower than the correct bid, the playerhaving the lower bid wins the trait card. If none of the players havecorrectly identified who successfully bid on the card, then nobody winsthe trait card. Trait cards won may be denoted as points for determininga score in the game.

As shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, if there are only two players, the gamebegins as described above, but each player selects two trait cards fromthe eight trait cards dealt. After 52 trait cards have been selectedfrom those cards presented, the players segregate the deck of regularplaying cards into two piles, one of red suited cards and one of blacksuited cards. One player then takes the red suit of cards, and the othertakes the black suit of cards. The players then use their respectivesuits to bid on the trait cards as previously described, and the gameprogresses in the same manner as stated above. It is possible for twoplayers to bid on 24 trait cards if they decide to play with only twosuits of playing cards.

In accord with FIGS. 6A and 6B, if there are three players, the gamebegins as described above, but each player selects one trait card fromthe eight trait cards dealt. Having presented all the trait cards andeach player selecting one from each set of eight cards dealt, results in39 cards being selected. After the 39 trait cards have been selectedfrom those cards presented, the players then each select a suit of cardsfrom a deck of standard playing cards having a total number of suitsthat equals the same number of players. The remaining suit is discarded.The players then use their respective suits to bid on trait cards aspreviously described, and the game progresses in the same manner asstated above.

In accord with FIGS. 7A and 7B, if there are five to eight players, 2decks of trait cards or 104 traits can be used. Each player selects onetrait card from each set of thirteen trait cards dealt. After all thetrait cards are presented a variable number of trait cards are selected.For five players, there will be 65 trait cards chosen. For six players,there will be 78 trait cards chosen. For seven players, there will be 91trait cards chosen. For eight players all 104 trait cards are used.

For a group of five to eight players, a second deck of regular playingcards must be used. The second deck should have a different motif orbacking so as to distinguish a total of eight visually different suits.Each player then selects one full suit of playing cards, and uses thissuit to bid on the trait cards as previously described, and the gameprogresses in the same manner as stated above.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the exactconstruction illustrated and described above, but that various changesand modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and thescope of the invention as defined in the following claims.

1. A method of playing a card game, the object of which is to win bybeing awarded the greatest number of trait/bid card pairs, said methodutilizing a large number of trait cards that exceeds 52 and a deck ofstandard playing cards, said method comprising: building a deckcomprised of 52 trait cards from the large number of trait cards thatexceeds 52; dividing the standard deck of playing cards by each suitsuch that each player gets a specific suit; building a mixed deck ofcards that includes trait cards from the second deck of trait cards anda card from the standard deck of playing cards by having each player bidupon the trait cards from the second deck of trait cards such that awinning bid card from the standard deck of playing cards is paired witha particular card from the second deck of trait cards; shuffling themixed deck of cards such that the winning bid card remains with theappropriate trait card from the second deck of trait cards; each playerguessing from memory who made the winning bid and the denomination ofthe winning bid; and, awarding points to an appropriate player.
 2. Themethod of claim 1 wherein said building a second deck of trait cardsincludes having players select their favorite traits from the traitcards that are provided by providing one-hundred and four trait cardsand flipping a number of trait cards that are twice the number ofplayers over face-up to display a trait unique to only one trait card infront of the players; each player selecting one trait card thatrepresents his or her favorite trait; and, placing each selected traitcard in the second deck.
 3. The method of claim 2 wherein trait cardsthat are not selected are discarded.
 4. The method of claim 2 whereinanother number of trait cards that equals twice the number of playersover face-up to display a trait unique to only one trait card in frontof the players.
 5. The method of claim 4 further comprising flippingover another amount of trait cards that equals twice the number ofplayers over face-up to display a trait unique to only one trait card infront of the players and repeating this until the entire larger deck oftrait cards has been presented.
 6. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising building the second deck of trait cards by reserving adesired trait card to be again presented in an additional round ofselecting desired traits.
 7. The method of claim 1 further comprisingkeeping track of player turns by passing the larger trait deck to theplayer who has the turn of making the first bid for a trait card andthereafter having the players then bid on a particular trait card basedon the traits respective importance to each player.
 8. The method ofclaim 7 wherein bidding continues until no player is willing or able tobid a higher denomination of a card held within the players hand.
 9. Themethod of claim 7 wherein the bidding discontinues when one of theplayers bids an ace.
 10. The method of claim 1 wherein during thebuilding of the second deck of the 52 trait cards, the first playermaking a bid for a trait card must bid on the card and cannot pass thebid without first bidding.
 11. The method of claim 1 wherein during thebuilding of the second deck of the 52 trait cards, the person with thehighest bid places the winning bid card underneath the trait card. 12.The method of claim 11 wherein during the building of the second deck ofthe 52 trait cards, the next successive player in turn bids on a nextexposed trait card and begins the process of bidding until a highest bidis made.
 13. The method of claiming 1 wherein said points are awardedaccording to the player or players who correctly associated the playerwho won a particular trait card and a denomination of the winning bidcard. {Confirm Language Here}
 14. The method of claim 1 wherein awardingpoints to an appropriate player finalizes in a tallying of all awardedpoints and the player who has the most trait cards after all 52 traitcard pairs have been exposed wins the game.
 15. The method of claim 1wherein awarding points to an appropriate player includes awarding apoint to a player who correctly guesses the identity of the highestbidder, and guesses closest to the value of the winning bid over anotherplayer who has correctly identified an identity of who made the winningbid.
 16. The method of claim 1 wherein awarding points to an appropriateplayer when two players correctly identify the winning bidder and guessan equally close bid, with one bid being higher than the correct bid andone bid being lower than the correct bid, including awarding points tothe player having the lower bid.
 17. The method of claim 1 whereinawarding points to an appropriate player includes awarding no points toany players when none of the players have correctly identified whosuccessfully bid on the card.
 18. The method of claim 1 wherein awardingpoints to an appropriate player includes passing a trait card to anappropriate player when the player is awarded a point to easily keepscore of the game during play.
 19. A card game comprising: a deck ofstandard playing cards having a particular motif on one side of eachplaying card and a unique denomination displayed on an opposite side ofeach playing card; a large deck of trait cards displaying traits on oneside thereof; a second smaller deck of trait cards formed from the firstlarge deck of cards; a mixed deck of cards comprising the deck ofstandard playing cards and the second smaller deck of trait cards suchthat cards from the standard playing cards are alternated with cardsfrom the second smaller deck of trait cards; and, wherein the mixed deckof cards are formed from using the cards from the deck of standardplaying cards to bid on the traits cards from the second smaller deck oftrait cards.
 20. The card game of claim 19 further comprising anadditional deck of standard playing cards having a different motif.